How's that for a Hufflepuff?
by thecompletebookworm
Summary: Being a Hufflepuff isn't anything to be ashamed of. It means you'll stand by your friends no matter what, even if it's against your housemates.  Written for My Dear Professor McGonagall's The Clue Prank Competition on HPFC


It had taken Zacharias Smith a little less than a week to get on every ones last nerves. His loud and obnoxious voice carried down the corridors and through the great hall. Hufflepuffs were avoiding him. They skirted around him like he was the plague. In their opinions, there couldn't have been anything worse. A bully was no friend to a true Hufflepuff.

He had started off by insulting Eloise Midgen over her acne problem. You would think the brief trip to the hospital wing would have brought him to his senses, or at least given him some pause before starting on someone else. Not one thing changed.

Several 1st year boys came screaming to the prefects after they were told Snape would feed anyone who did not pass his class to the giant man eating squid in the lake. Cedric Diggory, the 6th year prefect, found Zacharias huddled in a nearby closet, his laughter obvious through the closed door.

It was when Zacharias started attacking Hannah Abbot that things got out of hand.

"You're just as useless as the idiot Longbottom."

"Neville's not an idiot," interjected Hannah but Zacharias continued.

"You went to pieces last year over that boggart, and what was it again? Oh I remember, butterflies," He yanked on one of her pigtails. "Hey everybody! Hannah Abbot's afraid of butterflies itty, bitty butterflies," Zacharias shouted as his voice adopted a high babyish voice.

"Just leave her alone," Ernie Macmillan said as he pushed his way to the front of the crowd huddled around her.

"Oh, defending your girlfriend, are we?" Zacharias smirked.

Ernie seemed to shrink back into himself. A violent blush was already spreading across his face.

It would have been a lie to say that there wasn't anyone expecting the screaming that started at close to 3 in the morning.

About 50 vibrantly colored butterflies had been released in the 4th year girls' dormitory. Some had been enlarged to the size of dinner plates. They were all in a constant struggle with a gust of wind, pushing them toward the terrified girl hiding in the corner.

Susan Bones was casting spell after spell trying to knock them out of the air but most were missing due to the butterflies' ever changing movement. Megan Jones had given up all hope on defeating them magically and had pulled out The Standard Book of Spells: Grade 4. Leanne Phipps battled through the devilish Lepidoptera insects using her pillow. She ran down the staircase, running into the prefects on their way up.

The older students were able to sort out the chaos. The process was made a good deal easier when they had confiscated Zacharias' wand.

Hannah refused to go back up to bed even after the room was completely insect free. The four girls sat huddled around the fireplace. Megan, Leanne and Susan muttered words of comfort until Hannah's breathing became soft and even.

"We have to do something," Megan said, her words slightly louder in her agitation.

"Shhhh! You'll wake Hannah," Leanne whispered. She began fixing Hannah's blanket.

"Like what though? Sprout already knows," Susan replied. She started pacing back and forth.

"Ignoring him won't work," Megan's tone was already rising. She fell silent at looks from her friends.

"We could expose him to the other students," Leanne suggested.

Susan shook her head. "Who is going to believe that? He's a Hufflepuff. We're supposed to friendly and loyal." She allowed the last three words to sound like a little kid on a sugar high.

Leanne simply nodded but Megan made a derisive noise. "He doesn't deserve that title."

"No he doesn't. So are we taking care of this the old fashioned way?"

Leanne nodded again, "Letting someone else deal with him."

"NO!" Megan and Susan yelled before both covering their mouths. Hannah stirred and batted an imaginary insect away from her head.

Susan amended, "We're pranking Zacharias Smith tomorrow night."

"I think we should do it in the History of Magic classroom. Binns won't notice and it'll be empty anyways," Megan added.

"Ladies, I think we have a plan."

* * *

><p>"You have the string?"<p>

"Of course, I have the string," Leanne snapped. "I'm not an idiot."

"Sorry, we just can't miss anything," Susan apologized.

"It's alright. We're all just going to be a bit on edge. It would have been easier with Hannah. This really requires four people." Megan replied, her voice still several volume levels above a whisper.

"Just imagine her face tomorrow though. It'll all be worth it." Leanne assured them.

They tiptoed in silence down the corridor. Each one of them was glorying in their vision of Zacharias, tied in his seat covered in stink sap and only able to speak in haikus for the rest of the day.

Susan cautiously opened the door. "Good he's gone." She glanced at their confused expressions, "Well, there was the off chance that Binns was here. I sometimes wonder if Binns can even tell the difference between day and night."

"Doubt it but it doesn't matter," Megan said. "Should I do the potion?"

"No, get the rope. You're the best at notice-me-not charms," Susan advised.

Leanne brought out the caldron and the stinksap extract.

"How much should I put in?"

"Let's do the whole bottle. He'll smell for close to 24 hours," Susan suggested.

Megan added, "It's not like we'll ever need it again."

Jets of purple light shot out of Susan's wand. The air filled with a thick smog as the spell centered the chair as its focus.

"Done!" shouted Megan from atop the desk.

"Megan!" hissed the other two girls.

"Oops."

Faintly, in the distance, they could hear footsteps approaching the door. Megan and Leanne scurried into hiding places. Susan glanced around the room. There wasn't anywhere else left to go.

It would be useful to know a spell or something to make herself unseen, like the disillusionment charms, her Aunt Amelia often talked about. What she wouldn't give for another hiding place. Leanne was in the wardrobe and Megan was in Binns' back room but if she joined either of them, they'd all be caught.

The footsteps grew louder. Giving up all hope, Susan spun around and shouted the first spell that popped into her head, "STUPEFY!" The jet of red light danced from her wand and hit…

A cat. Mrs. Norris lay there immobile on the floor.

"Um, guys, we have to get out of here. Filch is going to be here any minute."

The three of them left the History of Magic classroom, leaving their pranking supplies behind them. They ran down the corridors not stopping until they were in front of the entrance to the common room.

Megan tapped in the rhythm of "Helga Hufflepuff" on the barrel in the middle of the second row, two from the bottom. The door into the common room sprang open.

In the distance, Susan could hear old Filch shouting,

"Pranks and disaster,

What happened to my sweet cat?

Weasley Twins will pay"

It wasn't what they were looking for but it would have to do. Hannah was smiling again and that was all that mattered to a true Hufflepuff.

**A.N. This was written for My Dear Professor McGonagall's The Clue Prank Competition. My combination was Susan Bones in the History of Magic classroom with Stupefy!**


End file.
